A. Description of the Prior Art
Marionettes have been known and used in a number of countries for more than a century. They have served not only as entertainment devices, such as puppets in puppet shows, but also as toys to be manipulated by children and adults to amuse themselves and others.
Heretofore, to the knowledge of the present inventor, marionettes have been formed as bodies with articulatable members such as arms, legs, torsos and heads in the form of some type of human being or caricature of a human being or an animal. Strings or filaments are attached to the articulated members and brought up above the object being manipulated to some type of control element by means of which the connected member may be moved upwardly or downwardly. When a plurality of the strings or filaments connected to the articulated members are brought together on or about the element, either manipulation of the element or one or more filaments by a person holding the element, enables the person to make the object imitate or engage in movements similar to those of a human being or animal which the object may appear to be, generally in minature.